Games with the most enganging stories...

[Little Raven]

Rules of the game: Maximum of one winner and one runner-up per genre. Explanation is appreciated but not required. To qualify, a game must tell a great story. Having great characters/atmosphere/writing is obviously helpful, as is having a great mechanics/graphics, but the story is the focus of this query.

My picks, for those genres that I'm at least vaguely familiar with.

FPS:
Winner: Marathon. This was my first FPS, and that no doubt lends it a bit of an edge, but I honestly can't think of any other FPS that's come close. Maybe it was easier to focus on writing lots of extraneous text back before developers had to worry about voice actors and musical scores, but Marathon was just stuffed with content that did nothing more than flesh out the world. And Durandal remains one of the greatest AI characters ever.
Runner-Up: Deus Ex. Wonderful story telling, smart writing, cool setting. What's not to love?

RTS:
Winner: StarCraft. Not much I can say. It absolutely blows away everything else in the field.
Runner-Up: Myth. Dark and compelling. The first Myth was like stepping into one of the early Dark Company books. Great stuff.

TBS::
Winner: Age of Wonders. Very Tolkien-esqe, with fantastic pre and post mission writeups.
Runner-Up: Alpha Centauri. Even though it didn't follow a linear story, I can't help but mention this game, because there were so many stories told within it. I never got tired of listening to the quotes that accompanied each building, or of watching the Wonder movies. (compared to Civ, where I watched the Wonder movies maybe twice)

Role Playing::
Winner: Fallout. One of the few role playing games I've ever finished. Really got drawn into the story, and I almost cried when a certain companion finally died.
Runner-Up: Planescape: Torment, maybe? I enjoyed that one for quite a while, though I never got it to run very well on my computer.

Adventure::
Winner: The Longest Journey. This is not a genre I have a lot of experience with, but TLJ certainly drew me in.
Runner-Up: Sam and Max. I still quote this game on a regular basis. Though I admit it's charm lay in the characters, not the story, but I'm going to cheat and list it anyway.
'Will it involve wanton violence?'
'We can only hope.'

[edosan]

RPG: Fallout/Planescape Torment

Adventure: Grim Fandango.

[Little Raven]

Oh my goodness. I had completely spaced Grim Fandango. You're right. That jumps right to the top of the adventure queue.

[Kasey Chang]

What, no Wing Commander in there?

[Little Raven]

What, no Wing Commander in there?

Never played it. Somehow that one passed me by.

[Sepiche]

FPS: System Shock

No other FPS has even come close to drawing me in like that game did.

s

[Little Raven]

FPS: System Shock

I bought SS, but I could never get it to run on my system. (I bought it some time after SS II came out.)

I did, however, play and greatly enjoy SS II. How did the sequel compare to the original?

[Grundbegriff]

Story? Let's see....

FPS::
Winner: Thief: The Dark Project (Gold) -- Offering a superb balance of evocative detail and suggestive ambiguity, Thief is one of the few games to attempt something like character development in the midst of a richly articulated fictional world that's immersive not only aesthetically and conceptually but psychologically.
Runner-Up: Mafia -- As close to cinematic perfection as any game has come.

RTS::
Winner: Europa Universalis 2 -- reality puts the 'story' in 'history'...
Runner-Up: Hearts of Iron 2 -- ...again and again.

TBS::
Winner: Jagged Alliance 2 -- Who doesn't love a good Banana Republic story? The Devs must be Crazy!
Runner-Up: Alpha Centauri -- Ideological brinksmanship meets polished nuggets of sci-fi.

Role Playing::
Winner: Planescape: Torment -- by a wide margin, the deepest and most mature storytelling in any PC game. First-rate in every respect.
Runner-Up: System Shock/System Shock 2 -- I'm transmitting more cybermodules!

Adventure::
Winner: Grim Fandango -- Even the polish is polished.
Runner-Up: Outcast -- An adventure game posing as a hybrid-FPS. The story is conventional, but the storytelling is wonderful!

[Daehawk]

FPS: System Shock

I bought SS, but I could never get it to run on my system. (I bought it some time after SS II came out.)

I did, however, play and greatly enjoy SS II. How did the sequel compare to the original?

I think other than graphics that SS1 was a much better game all around over SS2. I loved them both and maybe Im biased since SS1 was the one I played first. But I loved the atmosphere and setting and stuff much more of SS1. I also loved the control UI the way the arrows moved me and the mouse moved only my targeting cursor around the screen.

[Sepiche]

FPS: System Shock

I bought SS, but I could never get it to run on my system. (I bought it some time after SS II came out.)

I did, however, play and greatly enjoy SS II. How did the sequel compare to the original?

I think other than graphics that SS1 was a much better game all around over SS2. I loved them both and maybe Im biased since SS1 was the one I played first. But I loved the atmosphere and setting and stuff much more of SS1. I also loved the control UI the way the arrows moved me and the mouse moved only my targeting cursor around the screen.

Yeah I'd agree with that. It's really hard to compare the two because of the huge difference in graphics and processing power, but I felt much more in the game with the first one. It just felt somehow a little creepier. Even more than SS2 it felt like you always had to keep moving.

Or maybe I just really liked the elevator music in SS1.

s

[Buatha]

Maybe I'm just older (jaded) and don't remember, but I felt SS1 was a little better about your objectives.

SS2 seemed a bit more obvious about leading you from point A to B, only to find out it was a wasted effort, and required something at C.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed SS2, but I was always thinking "Okay, what switch/device/elevator/door isn't going to work this time to prevent me from moving between floors?"

[ChrisGrenard]

With the existence of Planescape, I don't really think I can even mention other catagories. Planescape just for the hands-down win.

Though I do want to give an honorable mention for Freespace 2. A space combat game where you still manage to have a real story going on without even talking to other people? Egads!

[Kaigen]

FPS: Tribes: Vengeance
Runner-Up: Half-Life - Less the story than the way it tells it.
TPS: Mafia
Runner-Up: Max Payne 2
RPG: Planescape: Torment (also the overall winner, IMO)
Runner-Up: Baldur's Gate 2
Strategy: StarCraft (never played a TBS with a good story)
Runner-Up: Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich
Adventure: Grim Fandango
Runner-Up: Full Throttle - Can you tell I love Tim Schafer?

Miscellaneous Genre Mentions:
Sneaker: Thief: The Dark Project
Console RPG: Anachronox
Platformer: Psychonauts
Action/Adventure: Beyond Good & Evil

Okay, so I cheated a little. And I am evaluating on characters/writing since I consider those essential elements to a story.

[Defiant]

Some of my favorites:

Action:
Mafia
Star Control 2: Epic space opera goodness.
Out of this world: One of the first action games where there was a story (albeit, with no dialogue) being told by my actions rather than through cutscenes or a back story. It was a simple storyline, but I still think of it fondly.

Strategy:
Hidden Agenda: You play the part of a new leader of a small central american country, meeting various constituents and foreign diplomats, hearing them all bitch about their problems, and trying to get you to solve them while your advisors try to manipulate you into following their agenda and you try not to get toppled. More of a mockumentary than a story, I guess.

Adventure:
The Last Express: While I didn't like the graphical style to this, there was plenty of depth to the story.
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis: Just like an indy movie.
A Mind Forever Voyaging: One of the first games to show me that computer games could tell serious, thought provoking stories.
Corruption: Almost hitchcock-like, as the player's life starts to fall apart when he gets framed for a crime he didn't commit.

[Kyosho]

Adventure: Gabriel Knight series. No question, as far as I'm concerned. Actually, I think I might play through them again sometime soon. Even though I've got such a large backlog as it is.

Role-playing: Planescape: Torment obviously. Though I've never completed it due to various harddrive crashes and things.

Stealth/action/thingy: Metal Gear Solid. I've played through this game 11 times, I think. Mainly because of the story.

[driver]

FPS
Winner: Half-Life
Runner-Up: Undying

RTS
Winner: Ground Control

RPG
Winner: Planescape: Torment
Runner-Up: Vampire - Redemption

ADV
Winner: The Longest Journey
Runner-Up: Lighthouse